Where businesses are fighting to survive, agility is the name of the game, says Mignon Reynecke.

A $450,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Research will aid researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences as they explore the potential to empower women farmers in northern Ghana through peanut production.

While the prospect of Guinea's return to constitutional rule after its recent election is cause for hope, the recent resurgence of military takeovers in Africa may not yet have run its full course.

Dans de nombreux pays, le pétrole suscite des débats controversés sur son rôle de moteur de changements économiques, sociaux et géopolitiques. Depuis quelques années, les réflexions sur la question du pétrole ont démontré une corrélation négative entre son exploitation, le développement socioéconomique, la gouvernance et le regain des conflits dans les pays producteurs.

Le processus électoral hors délai constitutionnel qui se déroule depuis le 23 janvier en Centrafrique n'est pas seulement une nouvelle opportunité manquée pour la démocratisation du pays mais c'est aussi un risque sérieux pour la paix.

On 15 June 2011 the Congolese Parliament adopted, after nearly three months of de-bate, the new electoral law. The Senate, or upper house, controlled by the opposition, and the National Assembly, or lower house, controlled by the ruling coalition, both voted for an electoral law which ultimately remains very similar to that governing the 2006 elections. Parliament took three months of debate to reject most of the amend-ments proposed by the ruling party (PPRD). In doing so it demonstrated that the ex-ecutive could not simply trump its interests.

فتحت النهاية الدموية لعهد القذافي الباب أمام التحول الديمقراطي في ليبيا، بيد أن سقوطه خلف العديد من المشاكل المحتملة الجديدة ليس في ليبيا فحسب، وإنما في البلدان المجاورة أيضا، مما قد يهدد استقرار المنطقة برمتها. تمثل تشاد مثال توضيحياً على ذلك حيث اضطلع القذافي بدور، إيجابياً كان أم سلبياً، في كافة نزاعات هذا البلد، وانتهج سياسة التقرب من رئيسه الحالي إدريس ديبي. كما أن الدعم السياسي الذي قدمه هذا الأخير لولي نعمته الذي كان محكوماً عليه بالفشل منذ اندلاع الثورة، واصطفافه المتأخر جداً مع المجلس الوطني الانتقالي، لا يبشر خيرا حول الحقبة الجديدة للعلاقات بين تشاد والسلطات الليبية الجديدة. إذ أن اتهامات المجلس الانتقالي بأن مقاتلين تشاديين قد دعموا القذافي عسكريا، بالإضافة إلى الاعتداءات العنصرية ضد الأفارقة السود وقضايا اللاجئين والنازحين، والوضع المتفجرعلى الحدود، كل ذلك يقوم بتعقيد العلاقة بين البلدين الجارين.

Le président sortant vient d'entamer un sixième mandat au Cameroun. Aujourd'hui, le pays est résolument tourné vers l'avenir et pense à l'après-Biya.

La rechute est le risque majeur des pays post-conflit et l'une des principales raisons de cette rechute s'appelle la corruption.

The Central African Republic is often called a forgotten country, but that isn’t quite right. It has had a long and substantial international presence and sizable foreign investment. It’s just that those efforts haven’t made much difference. As the country rapidly descends into greater violence, the difficult truth is that more — and much better — international and regional involvement is its only hope.

Since President Paul Biya came to power in 1982, Cameroon has been a sleepy regime with a soft and aging dictator, a nation all but forgotten in a remote corner of the African continent. This has dramatically changed with the spillover of Boko Haram from Nigeria into Cameroon in 2014 and its transformation into a regional threat. Now there is not a single day without reports of Boko Haram attacks in northern Cameroon. Even before it realized what it meant, the Cameroonian regime had become part of the fight against terrorism. After initially downplaying the problem, Cameroon’s leaders are now discovering the challenges and dangers of this new war. This rising, external threat sheds a new light on a forgotten country with a strategic position in Africa. The geography of Cameroon is both its blessing and its curse—a pivot between West and Central Africa, divided by language, culture, and history, its very existence depending on a regional stability so often beyond its grasp.

More than four years after the passage of ESSA, English-language-learner education policies across the country remain "disjointed and inaccessible," a new report concludes.

Spectinomycin is a ribosome-binding antibiotic that blocks the translocation step of translation. A prevalent resistance mechanism is the modification of the drug by aminoglycoside nucleotidyl transferase (ANT) enzymes of the spectinomycin-specific ANT (9) family or by the dual-specificity ANT(3") (9) family that also acts on streptomycin. We previously reported the structural mechanism of streptomycin modification by the ANT(3") (9) AadA from Salmonella enterica. ANT (9) from Enterococcus faecalis adenylates the 9-hydroxyl of spectinomycin. We here present the first structures of spectinomycin bound to an ANT enzyme. Structures were solved for ANT (9) in apo form, in complex with ATP, spectinomycin and magnesium or in complex with only spectinomycin. ANT (9) shows similar overall structure as AadA with an N-terminal nucleotidyltransferase domain and a C-terminal α-helical domain. Spectinomycin binds close to the entrance of the interdomain cleft, while ATP is buried at the bottom. Upon drug binding, the C-terminal domain rotates by 14 degrees to close the cleft, allowing contacts of both domains with the drug. Comparison with AadA shows that spectinomycin specificity is explained by a straight α₅ helix and a shorter α_5-α₆ loop that would clash with the larger streptomycin substrate. In the active site, we observe two magnesium ions, one of them in a previously un-observed position that may activate the 9-hydroxyl for deprotonation by the catalytic base Glu-86. The observed binding mode for spectinomycin suggests that also spectinamides and aminomethyl spectinomycins, recent spectinomycin analogues with expansions in position 4 of the C ring, will be subjected to modification by ANT (9) and ANT(3") (9) enzymes.

Gepotidacin, a triazaacenaphthylene bacterial type II topoisomerase inhibitor, is in development for treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (uUTI). This Phase 2a study in female participants with uUTI evaluated the pharmacokinetics (primary objective), safety, and exploratory efficacy of gepotidacin. Eligible participants (N = 22) were confined to the clinic at baseline, received oral gepotidacin 1,500 mg twice daily for 5 days (on-therapy; Days 1 to 5), and returned to the clinic for test-of-cure (Days 10 to 13) and follow-up (Day 28±3). Pharmacokinetic, safety, clinical, and microbiological assessments were performed. Maximum plasma concentrations were observed approximately 1.5 to 2 hours postdose. Steady state was attained by Day 3. Urinary exposure over the dosing interval increased from 3,742 μg.h/ml (Day 1) to 5,973 μg.h/ml (Day 4), with trough concentrations of 322 to 352 μg/ml from Day 3 onward. Gepotidacin had an acceptable safety-risk profile with no treatment-limiting adverse events and no clinically relevant safety trends. Clinical success was achieved in 19 (86%) and 18 (82%) of 22 participants at test-of-cure and follow-up, respectively. Eight participants had a qualifying baseline uropathogen (growth; ≥10⁵ CFU/ml). A therapeutic (combined clinical and microbiological [no growth; <10³ CFU/ml]) successful response was achieved in 6 (75%) and 5 (63%) of 8 participants at test-of-cure and follow-up, respectively. Plasma area under the free-drug concentration-time curve over 24 hours at steady state divided by the MIC (fAUC_0-24/MIC) and urine AUC_0-24/MIC ranged from 6.99 to 90.5 and 1,292 to 121,698, respectively. Further evaluation of gepotidacin in uUTI is warranted. (NCT03568942)

The currently unfolding coronavirus pandemic threatens health systems and economies worldwide....

Google has made it easier to join the company's Advanced Protection Program, which is designed to stop the most sophisticated hackers from breaking into your Gmail account. Before you needed two security keys to enroll. Now you just need a smartphone.

The stunning allegation reportedly comes from a forensic analysis Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos commissioned to determine the culprit behind the hack, which resulted in his private photos ending up in the hands of the National Enquirer.

Avast is harvesting users' browser histories on the pretext that the data has been 'de-identified,' thus protecting your privacy. But the data, which is being sold to third parties, can be linked back to people's real identities, exposing every click and search they've made.

The password-fatigued masses will be pleased to find Keeper's new 30 percent off deal, which brings it down to $20.99 per year from its typical $29.99.

Funders have been both fast and thoughtful about how to work with national and local partners to listen to needs from the field, identify best practices, and deploy resources quickly, says Celine Coggins.

"This pandemic has given us an opportunity to think boldly about students' educational needs and how to creatively respond to them," says Katherine Haley.

BACKGROUND:

Pediatricians are less frequently sued than other physicians. When suits are successful, however, the average payout is higher. Little is known about changes in the risk of litigation over time. We sought to characterize malpractice lawsuit trends for pediatricians over time.

With the UEFA Champions League resuming next week, UEFA.com looks at which players have been hitting the heights on the domestic front.

Saskia perseveres through language learning and connects with a young Albanian girl who becomes a follower of Jesus.

Noy shares her journey of experiencing God's love for herself and forgiving the community that persecuted her family.

Tinashe disciples and shows Zimbabweans that they, too, are called to serve; everyone can share their own stories with others to show the love of Christ. 

Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, Becky Shiring, Katie Robinson, Dr. Sonny Magana and Dr. Monica Burns contribute their suggestions on using tech to differentiate instruction.

Writing, reading, focusing, and remembering have all been transformed in ways we don't yet fully understand, writes psychologist Elias Aboujaoude.

Anne Jenks, Michelle Shory, Ed.S, Irina V. McGrath, Ph.D, Kim Jaxon, Dr. Beth Gotcher, Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, Ph.D., and Keisha Rembert share their suggestions for using tech effectively in class.

Michelle R. Darnell, associate clinical professor in management and director of honor and integrity at Smeal, has been appointed as the inaugural director of the Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.

The Penn State Smeal College of Business Center for the Business of Sustainability recently hosted the first in a series of virtual fireside discussions titled “The Impact of Coronavirus on Sustainability and Social Impact,” to explore how recent momentum in sustainability efforts has been altered.

In an effort to help mitigate the disruptive effects of the deadly COVID-19 virus, an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers are developing a novel methodology to analyze its spread and the impacts on policy to create better-prepared and more-resilient health care systems.

Penn State University Libraries has developed a curated guide to COVID-19 related resources for researchers, including ongoing research at Penn State.

With speed and ingenuity, more than 100 researchers across Penn State are shifting their research programs to address the COVID-19 crisis, thanks to funding from a seed grant initiative led by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. In total, the initiative awarded $2.25 million to 47 teams of researchers from three campuses, 10 colleges and more than 25 departments.

Penn State Health has enrolled its first COVID-19 patient into an experimental treatment program called convalescent plasma therapy.